What does cardiac arrest mean
Does cardiac arrest mean you are deceased?
A cardiac arrest is the same as death. It’s just semantics. After a gunshot wound, if the person hemorrhages sufficiently, then the heart stops beating and they die. The social perception of death is that you have reached a point from which you can never come back, but medically speaking, death is a biological process.
What causes cardiac arrests?
Most cardiac arrests occur when a diseased heart’s electrical system malfunctions. This malfunction causes an abnormal heart rhythm such as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Some cardiac arrests are also caused by extreme slowing of the heart’s rhythm (bradycardia).
What happens when you have cardiac arrest?
When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, reduced blood flow to your brain causes unconsciousness. If your heart rhythm doesn’t rapidly return to normal, brain damage occurs and death results. Survivors of cardiac arrest might show signs of brain damage.
What are 3 causes of cardiac arrest?
The main causes of cardiac arrest related to the heart are:
- a heart attack (caused by coronary heart disease)
- cardiomyopathy and some inherited heart conditions.
- congenital heart disease.
- heart valve disease.
- acute myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle).